Saudi climate treaty participants are said to be demanding kickbacks from the rest of the world as a quid pro-quo for climate treaty support. It's the same old tactic they have trotted out over the years: claiming that they will 'suffer as oil revenues decline.' Then wanting to be paid-off for helping save civilization. Nice. The Saudi's certainly know that their oil revenues are projected to increase for decades more into the future, regardless of any climate action now. (A recent IEA report documents this quite clearly.) Isn't this like inviting a vodka distributor to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting? Salon has the goodsI hope the other delegates have the resolve to ignore them "diplomatically."

Saudi Arabia has led a quiet campaign during these and other negotiations -- demanding behind closed doors that oil-producing nations get special financial assistance if a new climate pact calls for substantial reductions in the use of fossil fuels.

That campaign comes despite an International Energy Agency report released this week showing that OPEC revenues would still increase $23 trillion between 2008 and 2030 -- a fourfold increase compared to the period from 1985 to 2007 -- if countries agree to significantly slash emissions and thereby cut their use of oil...